


Pinky Promise

by roosevelt



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: Cavendish is an idiot, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Nail Polish, One Shot, Realizations, but what else is new, working a case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 18:56:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18900643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roosevelt/pseuds/roosevelt
Summary: Cavendish has never seen Dakota paint his nails before. Why is he so interested?





	Pinky Promise

"What are you doing?" Cavendish stops in the doorway of the living room, where Dakota is perched on the couch. The room smells strange, almost like permanent markers, or...

  
"Is that nail polish?" Dakota blows on his right hand.

  
"Yeah, Cav, what else?"

  
"And- you’re wearing it?" Dakota looks up, frowning.

  
"What, you’ve never seen a guy wearing nail polish before?"

  
Cavendish is flustered, and he doesn't know why. "Well, yes, but- certainly no one that I know,"

  
Dakota just shrugs. "Well, now you do." He goes back to painting, starting to add color to his left hand. He's chosen a sunset shade of orange not unlike his tracksuit.

  
"How come you've never worn any before?" Cavendish asks. He's been Dakota's partner for quite a while, and he's never seen his nails with color.

  
"Eh, haven't really had the time recently, and I usually kept them plain when we were with the Bureau. They wanted me to ‘keep it professional,' whatever that means."

"I see. So why now?" Dakota steady-handedly polishes his ring finger.

  
"PIG's never told me I couldn't, and I had some free time now, so," he shrugs again.

  
"Oh! Speaking of that, you actually do not have free time, as we have a mission!" Dakota groans.

  
"Another one?"

  
"Yes." Cavendish sniffs. "It’s our job,"

  
"Well, I can't go now." Cavendish frowns.

  
"And why not?"

  
"My nails, Cav!" Dakota holds up his unfinished hand. "They've gotta dry!"

  
"Well then, hurry up, or I'll just have to go without you,"

  
"Cavendish, it's paint. I can't just make paint dry. I'm not magic." Cavendish huffs out a breath.

  
"Fine, then I'll just go alone." Cavendish turns to leave.

  
"Come on, you know you can't do that!" Cavendish whips around.

  
"And why exactly not?" Dakota furrows his brow, looking incredulous.

  
"You died, Cavendish. Like, literally died,"

  
"Well, I'll just be careful this time."

  
"Were you not being careful those last hundred times?"

  
"Obviously not," Cavendish says, petulant. Dakota snorts out a laugh.

  
"Come here," he says, and Cavendish obliges without really thinking about it.

  
"Give me your hand," Dakota asks.

  
"Why?"

  
"For polish, what else?" Cavendish throws his hands behind his back.

  
"No, I'm quite alright, thank you."

  
"C'mon, I'll just do your pinky. I promise."

  
Cavendish remains unconvinced.

  
"I pinky promise. See what I did there? Huh? Good, right?"

  
Cavendish rolls his eyes, but lets a small smile slip. Dakota is ridiculous.

  
"Fine," he concedes, "but just the pinky." He sticks his right pinky finger out for emphasis.

  
Dakota dips the small polish brush into the color and covers Cavendish's nail in one swipe.

  
"See?" Dakota says, smiling. “That's it. Painless."

  
Cavendish's hand tingles where Dakota held it to keep it steady. His hand was surprisingly soft. Cavendish is disappointed when he lets go.

  
"We'll just let that dry, and we should be ready to go! I think mine are done." Dakota is chipper. Cavendish is flustered, and, for the life of him, he can't figure out why.

  
"You missed a finger," Cavendish says dumbly, pointing to Dakota's bare pinky.

  
"Nah. You've got that one covered." Dakota stands and stretches, a bit of his stomach peeking out from under his tracksuit. Cavendish averts his eyes.

  
"So, the mission," Dakota says. "What is it?"

It turns out to be fairly routine- just an alien trash dump. No memory devices, no living creatures, no adventure. Just Dakota and Cavendish and a bag full of garbage. Normally, this would drive Cavendish crazy. He thrives on adventure, and he needs a good one to get a promotion. Today however, his mind was elsewhere. He just couldn't stop watching Dakota's hands. They were particularly nice hands, he mused. Very big. The orange complimented them well… And he couldn't stop thinking about how they felt against his own as they polished his nail. He wanted that to happen again. Every day. 'Wow,' he thought to himself, ‘I must really like my nails painted!' But, no, that wasn't it, because if Cavendish really wanted his nails painted that badly, he'd go to the salon. He just wants Dakota to do it.

  
"Dakota," he says out loud.

  
“Yeah?" Dakota says.

  
"Oh, um- nothing," Cavendish blushes. He’s in love with Dakota. He tries not to freak out. He's in love with Dakota, and has been for a while. He looks over at him- he's inspecting the nails on his right hand, checking for smudges. Cavendish decides he can't go another minute without one of Dakota's hands in his. He links his right pinky with Dakota's left. Dakota looks over at him, shocked.

  
"They're a matched set," Cavendish says.

  
"Yeah," Dakota stops walking, looking at Cavendish.

  
"We're a matched set," Cavendish says. Dakota bursts out laughing.

  
“That was really cheesy," he wheezes. Cavendish frowns, pulling his hand away. Dakota reaches for it, lacing their fingers together.

  
"I'm not complaining." he says quickly, a little out of breath. "It was cute." Cavendish blushes.

  
"I think," Cavendish pauses. "I think l'm in love with you." Dakota grins, squeezing his hand.

  
"Oh, thank God. I was starting to think that this would be awkward."

  
"Awkward?" Cavendish frowns.

  
“Yeah, awkward. If I was in love with you and you didn't love me back. Awkward!”

  
"You're in love with me?" Cavendish says, disbelieving.

  
"Have I not been clear enough? I broke so many time laws for you, Cav. I've lived with you for like, a year. I fell in love with you the day we met, when you were straight out of the academy- "

  
"You did?"

  
"Yeah, duh! What'd you think all of those lovey glances and self-sacrifices were?"

  
Cavendish frowns. "Friendship, I suppose."

  
"Eh. I guess it was that too."

  
"So... you love me?" Cav asks again.

  
"Yes, Balthazar. How many times do I have to- you know what? Just come here." Dakota brings one manicured hand to Cavendish's cheek and leans up for a kiss. Cavendish has never felt so light. When Dakota pulls away, Cavendish stays there, eyes closed.

  
"I'd quite like to do that again." Cavendish stammers.

  
"Let's get home, first," says Dakota, squeezing his hand. "We have all the time in the world. Unless, of course,” Dakota pauses. "You plan on leavin' me?"

  
"Never!" Cavendish rushes.

  
"Pinky promise?" Dakota smiles.

  
"Pinky promise." Cavendish links their pinkies together.

  
Cavendish's pinky is never bare again.

**Author's Note:**

> Haha, /straight/ out of the academy. Idiots.  
> Well, I hope you liked this! I don't know how I feel about it, tbh. I feel like it's not fantastic, but I've been sitting on it so long I figured I'd share it. Especially with the season over! Thanks for reading, and if you feel like commenting, please do! I'll probably reply (:


End file.
